It All Began With a Kiss

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year...

2010-11-11T23:15:00.001-08:00

Which means....Christmas Cards!!! So, back in the day, that is, before children, I almost always got my cards in the mail by the Friday after Thanksgiving. I worked a graveshift job back then, and in between actually working, I would hand address them all, including a nice little note inside to the recipient.

Fast forward to now, a frazzled mom of 2 kids, working part time outside of the home, full time inside the home, along with letting myself get roped into various other commitments. As much as I would love to go store to store, looking for just the right card, then laboring over all 50+ of them...I just don't have the time. And you know what? I don't have to, to have beautiful cards that I know everyone will ohh & awww over. Why? Because I have found Shutterfly's Holiday Cards!

All I have to do is pick my favorite picture...or pictures, which is great because we all know I'm indecisive, sit in front of my computer after the children are fast asleep & the house is peaceful, and with a few clicks I have my Christmas cards. I haven't 100% made the decision yet (go figure) but I'm pretty sure that I'm going with the "Pictures in Red" card, but with over 700 choices of Christmas cards, I know I have tons of options. In fact, the hardest part of ordering cards through Shutterfly might be determining which out of all the cards is THE one!

But best of all is...I get to kill 2 birds with 1 stone. We've decided that for Michael's parents this year, we are doing a portrait of the 3 grandchildren. Well, after I finish putting together my Christmas cards, I can go right here on Shutterfly's website to order a beautiful gallery-wrapped wall art of the children's picture. I just pick the size canvas I want, upload the picture and there you go. Or if you want to play around with it some, you can can crop your picture, take out red eye or change it to black & white, sepia etc.

Now I want to share the love with you! Bloggers get 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly, follow the arrow à http://bit.ly/sfly2010

Enjoy!

Catch Up!!

2010-06-24T15:56:00.000-07:00

Okay lets see...here goes a quick catch up from the last posting, which was about a month ago. These are not necessarily in chronological order...they are as I'm remembering them :)

1) M's first VCS Celebration of Arts dance performance. She made the best little squirrel ever! Seriously.

2)Miss Madison has made it through Kindergarten! Woohoo! And so has Mommy! Double woohoo! Michael was able to take the day off of work, which was nice. Her class marked her last day of kindergartenhood in a nice easy fashion. No caps & gowns and such. The festivities began @ lunch time when the parents were invited to have lunch with the kiddo's in the lunch room. I wish I would've not left my camera in the classroom (Michael & I had been there all day, helping out), because it was really neat to see the lunch room packed with all these families. During recess a few of us headed back to the classroom to set up for their performance of songs for the parents & their magic walk. The Magic Walk was at the end, when a red carpet was laid out. At the beginning of the carpet they were kindergarteners by the time they made it to the end, to Mrs. Piper, they had magically become 1st Graders.

The reason Mrs. Piper isn't smiling isn't because she doesn't like my child, but she was announcing to everyone about how she was MY kindergarten teacher also. Pretty cool huh?!

Our pretty cool class gift to Mrs. Piper. I had each of the children use fingerprints to make the blades of grass & the petals on the flowers. Erin (P) completed the rest, including the children's names on the bottom of it and the words "Thank you for helping us grow".

3)Dunn dunn dunnnnnnn....The Kitchen. So with our income tax return we decided we're going to redo the kitchen, which badly needs it. However we are still on an extremely shoe string budget. Lucky for us, we know some great people. Our good friend Time aka our general contractor, architect and Michael's golf buddy took our dimensions, our ideas and gave us ideas. So the plan is, knocking out a wall, moving the fridge, adjusting the sink & a bunch of other stuff. With a budget of $6500. Sound impossible...yeah, most would think that. But so far I'm making it work. We have not officially broke ground on it yet...but it is in the works. Keep look out for updates, because you are going to be impressed...I promise!

4)PTO - I'm crazy. I am now the Social Activities chair for the PTO. Be prepared to hear many things regarding this in the upcoming school year.

5)Riley. We can't forget Riley and believe me, she won't let you forget her. She is one determined, smart little thing. She keeps me on my toes from the moment she wakes up, to the moment I lay her down, and in many cases, for an hour or 2 after wards. I adore her, she adores giving me gray hairs. I need to get better about making notes of her firsts & all that stuff, because they are happening so quickly and I'm so forgetful!

Leaving you with one of my current favorite pictures of the girls. After her last day of school, under the watchful eye (hahaha) of Katelyn, the girls decided to go swimming in their clothes. Ahh, sometimes you just have to go with the flow

2010-05-12T12:45:00.000-07:00

Yeah yeah yeah, so I've missed some postings. 10th anniversary, M's first Kindergarten field trip & so on, but I've got really big news to report. Yes, I said BIG.

Not only did I get up from the computer, but I baked something. But that's not the super BIG part. What did I bake? Ahhhh, that's where the BIG lies.

Well, it took me nearly 2 years, and countless hours of whining from my husband. There were quite a few times I'd look at that recipe, and it would come flooding back like yesterday, the moment I'd see the ingredients, flour, sugar and so on, I knew I didn't need the recipe. But then the trepidation would set in (or laziness, but trepidation sounds way more exciting to this story) and I wondered, would they be as good? What if?

But today I said to heck with it, and the moment I started cutting in the butter, I wondered why had I been putting it off. I knew this like the back of my hand. And now they are sitting baking away in my oven.

Oh, what are they you're probably still wondering - why, scones of course! But not just any scone, Georgina's Scones. Yes, hard to believe that it has been nearly 2 years since the last batch of Georgina's scones have been made, moist, melt in your mouth, drizzled with glaze, adding inches to your waistline but so worth it scones.

So there you go. Today has become a momentous occasion in my house. Not only did I bake again, I baked a Georgina's original, and now I won't have to hear Michael whine for a while. The sun is out, birds are singing and there is baked goodness in my home.

I'm sorry, what was that you said?

2010-04-07T11:16:00.000-07:00

Today was Madison's appt with the ENT. As some of you may know, she failed the hearing test they give you in Kindergarten, when she failed it a second time, they sent a note home to be checked by her doctor. After following the dr's advice, a 3rd failed hearing test at the school, back to the doctor who did dislodge some more wax we were referred to the ENT.

However, we weren't just referred to the ENT for her hearing (that the dr was pretty sure would be ok now that they got out that wax), but for an enlarged right tonsil. At 5pm on a Friday night, the Dr. told us an enlarged tonsil can be lymphoma. Cancer. Okay. She did go on to say that it is very treatable etc, as well as other things. So being me, as much as I told myself I wasn't going to freak out, that night I did. I cried, I looked online, cried more & decided not to look online anymore lol. The irony of all of it was, most of that Friday night I was sitting on the couch covered in purple tulle, for the tutu's I was making to raise funds for Relay for Life.

Well, karma for doing something good for the American Cancer Society may have just come back to me. According to the ENT, her tonsil just looks like an enlarged tonsil. It isn't showing any of the other signs it would for Lymphoma. He is going to check it again in 6 months, but he thinks for what ever reason, her right tonsil is just like that. As long as it's not giving her issues, it will probably just "be there".

However, her hearing, that had been put on the back seat ended up being the real reason we were there. Hoping that the removal of wax would give her a clean bill of health ended up not being. They gave her a verbal audiology test, one with the sounds, a second one with something sending sound to her left ear outside/behind her ear & one that seals the ear for pressure. The prognosis - Otosclerosis. One of the little bones in her ear, that connects to the cochlea is not vibrating. He said for now, we pretty much just keep an eye on her hearing, she will be tested again in 6 months to see if her hearing has gotten worse or stayed the same. However, eventually she will probably need surgery, though they do not like to do the surgery before the teen years. The surgery will be the removal of that bone, and replacement with a prosthesis one. IF she begins to have a severe hearing loss before then, they will have to consider a hearing aid. Int he meantime, she needs to be sat on the left side of the room for school and then we wait it out.

So there you go....

Oh, and here is her Spring picture from school. Not overly impressed with it...I hate when photographers "wet comb" kids hair.

You are TUTU generous!

2010-03-14T21:10:00.000-07:00

Celebrate, Remember, Fight Back
A quick run down....I'm on a team, The Sunblockers, for Vallejo's Relay for Life. For those that are not familiar, Relay for Life is the American Cancer Society's main fundraiser. It involves teams "relaying" around a track for 24 hours, to symbolize the around the clock fight cancer survivors and their care givers deal with every day. For more information check out What Relay For Life is

So, in my quest to raise funds for my Relay For Life Team, I am going to do a fundraiser once a month. I know it's difficult in these times to just be able to donate money, many of us need some sort of bang for our buck. There for, my intention is that each of my fundraisers will give you something, while allowing you to support a great cause.

For the month of March I will be making & selling Purple Tutus. Purple being RFL's color. So here is the rundown.

-Ages 0-3 years old - $15
-Ages 4-preteen - $18
any age other then that or special orders let me know & I'll work with you!

-Your choice of colors - Regular purple or a light (lilac) purple, or for an additional $2 I can do a combo of both. They will come with a purple ribbon bow.
-Waist measurement, if this is not possible, I will make according to my size chart. These are made with an elastic band so they will stretch.

These are great for photo ops, dress up & Easter fun.

These types of Tutu's retail for a bit more on Etsy.com and fairs, some as much as $30 or even higher. Not only are you getting a deal, but all profits, approximately 60% will be going to the American Cancer Society.

I can ship these, so this is not just for my local friends. Shipping charges based on USPS will be $4.90

Turn around time on your order will be about 1 -2 weeks, plus additional time for shipping.

Payment Options:
By credit card, you can go directly to my RFL site and make a donation there, however, if you need it shipped, I do need to have shipping charges payed via paypal.

By Paypal, my address is elindke@hotmail.com

By cash (if you are local) just email me and we will set that up.
See, I'm super flexible in getting your little girl in an adorable tutu while helping you support ACS!

This is an example of the tutu in the light (lilac) purple color as shown by Ms. Riley on her first birthday. The next one is of both girls from Christmas time, but they are in pink (this is offer is just for purple). But you can see how nice & full they are!

Madisonisms

2010-02-19T20:55:00.000-08:00

Thank you Mary for reminding me of this.

So we are sitting at dinner Thursday night, Mary is with us.

Madison looks up at her aunt & says "We have a garden".
Mary asks "Oh, what's in it?"
Madison responds "Weeds".

There is no doubt, Madison is definitely Michael's child.

These are the moments you live for as a parent

2010-02-19T14:18:00.000-08:00

Standing around after Madison got out of school today, her teacher approached me. She let me know that she's doing pretty well with her numbers, but gets stumped after 69, so some work on that, she's reading pretty well, and then she tells me...

"Madison always does the things she's supposed to be doing, always listens to directions & tries her hardest to be doing the right thing." Yayayayay!

But even better the conversation continued on and she said "Madison is probably the most empathetic child I have in class. She always is caring to the other kids, never causes issues and when we talk about situations and how would you feel, or how do you think the character feels, she says things like "Oh that must make them very happy, or that would make me very sad".

I would be thrilled to know she is doing perfect in reading or with numbers, but I am so proud to have someone else recognize that I am raising a decent human being. Numbers are great but being a good person goes a lot farther in my book. I am seriously beaming ear to ear.

Ahoy there Maties!

2010-02-07T22:57:00.000-08:00

Okay, so next up after Riley's party was Madison's 6th birthday. With her wanting to invite her school friends & all the family we have, add in our small house, I decided the only way we could do this is if we did 2 parties, one for her friends and one for family. I figured if I was doing 2, I might as well just do them both the same day. I did the kids one @ noon & the family one was a dinner starting at 5.

She decided she wanted a Pirate birthday party. Wow, this was work, but I think it turned out real well & was a lot of fun. I am bummed though, with being so busy, I didn't get many good pictures of the party & decorations.

First we handed out the invites to her classmates. They were message in a bottle invites. I printed the wording up on regular computer paper, dipped them in coffee, then set them in a low temp oven to dry. It gave them a nice aged look. We reused water bottles we collected from family members. Put a new label on them that said "Pirate So&So" "Open if ye dare" and a skull & crossbones underneath. The label was also aged. I then rolled the invites up, tied them with a string & had the rest of the string hang out of the bottle. I figured this would make it easier to get the invites out of the bottle.

For decorations: Michael made a "pirate ship" out of plywood for the front of the house & we had a "plank" for the kids to walk up to the front door. We also concocted a sail for the ship, and one for inside the house, using bamboo that we cut down from the yard as the mast, and neutral sheets for the sail itself. Oh, we also had a repetitive playing of Pirates of the Caribbean "Yo ho ho A Pirates Life for me" at the front of the house, so the kids heard it as they came up.

Inside we had two pirates on the walls, fishing nets with parrots, pirate pennants, swords, money bags & other loot along with previous said sail, which was up against the wall behind our couch.

Upon coming in, the kiddo's received a pirate hat, that Tessa & Katelyn helped me make and red sashes, to help them get into the swashbuckling mood.

I read them a story "The Night Pirates" which was really cute & fit well since it had girl pirates in it. Then we moved on to pirate bingo. I used pictures of pirate things so that all the kids could play easily. They used gold plastic coins to mark their papers (which they kept). Next up was Toss the Fish (think Hot Potato)and Pin the Parrot on the Pirate (thanks Katelyn!).

Some where in between the games the pirates got their grub: corn dog swords, ocean blue jello, gold fish crackers, fresh fruit & veggies.

After Madison blew out her candle & the kids had consumed their cupcakes we began the treasure hunt. The kids had clues that led them from place to place with the idea that on the back of each clue was a letter, that was to spell out the location of the treasure, which was TABLE. The treasure chest with the goody bags inside was hidden under the food table. Unfortunately, my planning went poorly here. First off, the kids didn't even need to put the clue letters together, they had figured it out. But, I also thought that they would find the treasure chest & pull it out from under the table before trying to open it. NOPE. Half the nearly 20 kids that were here, dove under the table all scrambling to try & get into it. Madison for one, bumped her head on the bottom of the table, then whacked her chin on the top of the chest. So after the melee subsided, we were able to hand out the goody boxes in a somewhat organized manner. But hey, what pirate party is complete with out a pirate brawl?

While the kids went through their loot, Madison began opening presents & shortly there after the pirate ship docked & the little mini pirates headed home.

You know what that means....Mommy & Daddy rested for about 1 hour, before cleaning up & getting ready to entertain again for her family party. This time we didn't have to worry about any games and dinner was already prepped the night before. I had a yummy lasagna I just had to throw in the oven, Salad and french bread, along with the left over fruit & veggies from the kid party that I just had to replate.

It was a very long & exhausting day, but I think it turned out great! Although, I have suggested to the little swashbuckler, maybe next year a few friends & heading to Happy Frog on a Friday afternoon! But really, who am I kidding, I love throwing her parties!

Prep work, putting together the goody boxes

The CAKE - Katelyn helped me tremendously putting this together (along with Tessa). Unfortunately, after taking this picture, I realized the right side was sagging & I did fix that, but forgot to take a picture after

Food table before the food got on it

Action shots ;-)

Rachel wants to know "Arrrgh you having a good time?" She is so cute!

Happy Birthday to you, Happy birthday dear Madison, happy birthday to you

Tweaker really wanting to know if the party is over yet

Heading out on the treasure hunt

Finding the treasure chest

And finally, after all the parties were done, Madison & Mary playing in the treasure chest

Walking in a Winter Onederland

2010-02-07T15:34:00.001-08:00

So, I really have to get better at this blogging thing. There are times through out the day that the kids will say something funny & I think, "Oh, have to put that on the blog". As you can tell, I'm horrible with follow through.

So....I need to catch up with the girl's birthdays. First up is Riley.

Riley's was held on her actual birthday, January 2nd. We had a Winter ONEderland theme (hehe, yes, corny but cute!). I double dipped & sent the invites with our Christmas cards. I made them as a long vertical rectangle. Purple card stock. Towards the top, I glued down wide ribbon & on top of that glued down a picture of her. Under that was the wording for the invites. I'm hoping I can find an extra & take a picture to show. I personally think they turned out fairly well!

We had comfort foods with an emphasis on white. White cheddar baked mac&cheese, Meatballs & penne regate, snow flake shaped sandwiches, cream puffs, a hot cocoa station and other good odds & ends. Tessa helped me decorate, Mary made the banner for me & of course, Michael filled in where ever I needed him. Just about the whole family made it, along with some friends. We were packed, but it seemed like everyone had a good time.

Riley could really have cared less with most of the present opening. Not to say, she isn't loving her gifts now, but she was more into socializing then opening at that time.

However, cake time, oh yeah, the only socializing she was doing was with her cupcake. She didn't poke around at it, smear the frosting with her finger or any of that other typical 1st birthday cake stuff. She picked up the cupcake & promptly stuffed it up to her mouth. There was barely any crumbs on her tray & clean up was honestly quite easy, because most of it went in her mouth.

And now for the photo heavy ending =)

Decorations - I was late on these & snapped most of them after the party, and I never got a good shot of the pretty snowflakes hanging down from the ceiling.

Hot Cocoa station

starting left to right

Close up of the mantle decorations

The Birthday Girl!

One of her favorites - yay!

Maddy giving her sister her doll as a present, isn't that so sweet!

READY for CAKE!

You're gonna love this!

2010-01-08T12:50:00.000-08:00

So Madison had homework the other day. There was a picture in each square, along with a short sentence that she had to fill in the blank on. I wish my scanner worked so you could see exactly what I'm talking about.

1. My cat sat. I like my cat.
2. See a rat?
3. My cat ran to see a rat.

Now this is where it gets great. The 4th square is empty. The instructions are for the kids to draw a picture to show how the story might end. So Madison gets going with her drawing. A few minutes later she shows me what she drew.

A cat.

With the tail & legs of the rat hanging out of it's mouth.

Yeas, I laughed. It was classic. I mean seriously, what did they think Kinder's were going to put...that they played?

Wooo Have we been busy!

2010-01-03T23:42:00.000-08:00

So, the holidays are more or less behind us now and it was a busy and fun ride. I did feel quite behind on things, since I had a procedure done on my right foot in early December and it laid me up for much longer then anticipated. We still accomplished a lot of things. Tday dinner, followed by staying up all night outside of Target to start our Black Friday shopping, followed by dinner @ Mimi & Bob's. Said procedure on foot, Carol's birthday, going to Holiday in the Park @ 6 Flags, decorating inside & outside of house, finding an AWESOME place to get Christmas Tree's (they hang them [upright] from the rafters, so you can just give em a spin to see if its the tree for you!), hosting an ornament decorating & tea party for Madison & her friends, Volunteer time in Maddy's class, shopping for presents, another trip to 6 Flags, early Christmas dinner w/Mimi & Bob's, Christmas Eve visits with the inlaws, Christmas Eve wrapping (uuuuughhhhh), Christmas at my house, second dinner @ Mimi & Bobs, an unexpected visit with Shawna AND Joleen! and capping it off with a quiet NYE at the house. Yeah...and that's not the end of it.

Next up is Riley's 1st Birthday party. Will be posting that soon!

Finally, a lot of pictures from our busy month

Kindergarten Thanksgiving Feast Day

Holiday in the Park

Madison's Party

Christmas stuff

And finally....here are Shawna's, Joleen's & my children....I think this is an awesome picture...who'd have thought we'd have all these beautiful babies 10+ years ago!
Left - Right Nikoli(S),Ashley(J),Tyler(J),Logan(S),Riley,Madison,Shaelynd(S)

Sickness, Halloween, More Sickness, Trip to the ER, Walking & Sick again

2009-11-08T23:45:00.000-08:00

I think the title fairly covered all points...but let me bring you all up to speed.

So the Tuesday before Halloween, Michael started to feel poorly, and by Wednesday he was miserable. Cold like symptoms, times ten, fever, just miserable. Took Thursday off of work, went back to work on Friday, feeling better. Then Friday evening WHAM...not only did he feel bad again, he felt worse & the fever was back.

Which lead us to a Daddy-less Halloween. While he was laid up in bed, I got the girls ready (Riley's first Halloween!) and began my Halloween runaround, err, umm, their trick or treating. Leaving the house 30 minutes later then planned, headed across town to Meghan's....knock on the door, nobody home (thanks Megan). Head to "Grammy's" for "Boompa's" birthday. Trick or treat at a few places there, have cake & ice cream, leaving at 6:45 back towards our house to pick up my mom. Okay, have my mom, who is standing in for Michael, and we head to our regular area of trick or treating. About half a block down Madison says "Mom, I have to go to the bathroom". Of course she has to go to the bathroom, because that's what 5 year olds do when they are dressed in a costume with long flowy sleaves, even though they went before we left the house. Okay, that's alright...."aunt" Lori lives somewhere on this street. Bathroom break taken we continue on. Just as Madison begins complaining that it would be "wayyyy more fun if we were with friends" who should we run into, but one of her good friends Naomi & family! Yay! So we hit a street with them before going in different directions. Their direction was home, which really was a good direction. Ours was back down Nebraska st, to visit with a friend. That's okay though, they had a chair, so I got to sit down.

While out trick or treating, in the whole hour and a half we were out, I got calls from 3 different family members asking when we were going to stop by. Finish our official trick or treating at 8:20 & head out to Grandpa & Granma Roxann's house. From there we head back across town towards our hood...but ha! if you think we are heading home on Halloween at 9:40 at night with a whiney 5 year old & an asleep baby, you are WRONG. Nope we're heading over to Carol's...which really ends up being her neighbors house that they are partying at (which I want to add in, had some awesome decorations inside!). So it is finally 10pm and we are officially headed home.

Poor Madison didn't even get a chance to zone out on candy when we got home, she asleep by the time we pulled into the driveway.

So on with the sickness....Sunday night (Nov. 1) about 30 minutes before bedtime Madison says she doens't feel so good, thinking it was too much Halloween candy I told her she'd be fine. Putting her in bed I realize she does feel a little warm. Break out our handy thermometer and she has a temp of 100.3, officially .3 degrees above what her school tells you to keep kids home from. The next morning I take it again, it's hovering at 99.9. Deciding not to be one of those moms that all the other moms hate for sending her child to school sick, especially in this day of H1N1 I keep her home. Someday when she is a teenager and is begging NOT to go to school, I will appreciate this, but that morning she cried, yes, cried about not wanting to stay home, begging for me to let her go to school. I kept her home Monday & Tuesday to be on the safe side.

So Wednesday, all is clear, Michael is back at work, Madison is at school, I had breakfast out with a girlfriend & Riley was great. We're all good right? Um....no. After breakfast Riley choose to snooze in her carseat on the way home. She was still sleeping when we got home so I just left her in her car seat, as we would be leaving within the hour to pick Maddy up anyway. She zzzz'd away the entire time at home. While at the school, she was pretty darn mellow and I realized she was feeling pretty warm. Got home & her temp was 104. Stripped her down & temp after an hour was 103. Then it went up to 103.6. Waited 2 hours for a call back from the doctors office (with one nearly irrate call in between from me) for them to call me & tell me to take her to the ER, it sounded as if it was H1N1.

Get to the ER & to their credit, they had us in the back within 10 minuts. They took her temp & it was 105.2. OMG! I felt like the most horrible mommy in the world. They put an ice pack on her back & ended up giving her a double dose of Tylanol & Motrin. Nearly 3 hours later we walked out, after 2 failed attempts of trying to catch her urine in a bag attatched to her girly regions, and her temp dropping down to 99.9 with the diagnosis of an upper respratory viral infection. The doc on the sly said it was probably H1N1, but they don't test for it there.

So, mommy has been dealing with a very unhappy baby. Things were getting better, Tessa even watched her on Friday while Michael & I took Maddy to the movies on Friday. Saturday we brought her out while we went to dinner with Mary & Jonathan. She had been cruising around, laughing some, playing. Oh, AND walking! Yes, she had taken a single step here & there, but Saturday she took 4 steps to me!! Yes, we all saw it, so it wasn't dellarious tired mommy imagining Riley was walking, but my mom & Michael all saw it! Woohoo! Beginning to walk at 10 months 1 week!

Well, that now brings us to Sunday. Now Riley is acting worse then the day before & so is Daddy. He has a swollen knee and says he feels like he is sick all over again. So he is once again laid up on the couch, while I am holding on to a clingy unhappy baby who is rubbing her snot all over my sweatshirt.

On the brightside.......hmmm......I know there's a brightside somewhere here. Give me a minute...I'll find it.

2009-11-03T20:23:00.001-08:00

OMG - I love these Aprons

2009-10-25T22:47:00.000-07:00

So I'm a slacker...or some of you may be a little nicer & say I'm a procrastinator...same deal. Anyhow, I've been saying forever how I'm going to make myself an apron. A cute one. So that when I'm making my kitchen look like a tornado just ripped through it while I cook (yes, I do cook people) I can keep myself clean & look a little cute at the same time. Well, as my sewing machine is still sitting in it's box (taped up how it came from the store) I'm doubting that I'm going to make the apron any time soon.

And then it fell into my lap...well, actually onto my computer monitor. Thank you to Mommy Loves Giveaways I have now come across Flirty Aprons. I'm going to hold out until the contest ends on the 4th to win one...but if I don't, then I'm buying one that same day...so while I bake my pumpkin pie & other Thanksgiving foods, I can do so in style....with the chocolate brown apron (that's the one I really want, though they have tons of other cute ones).

So check out Mommy Loves Giveaways and maybe you can beat me out and win one of your own.

Autumn Fun

2009-10-25T22:17:00.000-07:00

We just capped off a great, busy, wonderful Fall weekend.

Friday the kids went over to "Grammy's" while Michael & I headed over to Fright Fest at Marine World. Mary joined us & we all got to ride the grown rides aka, Roar, Medusa & Tony Hawk. I only screamed 3 times by roaming zombies...so I think I did pretty good lol!

Saturday, joined by Carol & Sue we headed up to one of our favorite fall traditions, Apple Hill. The place was PACKED! I've never seen the area so busy. Even though it was so busy, we still had an enjoyable day. Maddy got to ride the ponies at High Hill Ranch and finally got to do the train at El Dorado Orchards (which is where we had some killer Tritip Sandwiches).

We hit Boa Vista in between those two, and then finished up at Rainbow Orchard to get our Apple Cider Donuts. Finally we were really able to let Riley out of her stroller & roam in their grass, all the other places were just too busy.

We didn't make it to one of our other favorites...Ables Acres....it was CRAZY there, it'll just have to be one of our first stops next year.

From Saturday we rolled into Sunday....an hour late! Our alarm clock in our room is programmed to automatically change for the time change each season. Unfortunately it was manufactured before the time switch changed to later in the year. So while we thought we were waking up at 7:15 to leave the house at 9, it was actually 8:15. Amazingly....we got out of the house on time!

Now, as to where we were going....we were going to meet Joleen & family at her sisters to go to the San Francisco Zoo. The were doing a cute thing called Boooo @ the Zoo, where the kids dressed up in their Halloween costumes and there were trick or treat stations around the zoo. We had a blast.

At the end of the day and weekend...I'm am done....mentally & physically...I'm too old to have an action packed weekend like this! Lol...

As soon as I get the pictures off the camera I'll make sure to post some!

Day 1

2009-10-12T11:33:00.000-07:00

So I finally got my butt in gear & went back to Curves. I'm beat, but I'm glad I took the step. I weigh more now then I ever have. I didn't gain any weight while pregnant with Riley and I need to at least get down to that weight....at the very least. So wish me best!

Gosh, I'm old

2009-10-08T10:34:00.000-07:00

So every once in a while, you realize that you are in fact, old...or at least older then you used to be. I had one of those eye opening moments the other day at the school while working.

So Tuesday I get there and a little boy, 2nd grade I think, asks me to open his wide mouthed thermos. I'm twisting & twisting with all my might and it's not budging. I ask the boy "Who do I look like, He-Man?"

The boy looks up at me, you know that quizzical up through your eyebrows look and says "WHO?"

Me, not quite grasping yet that the kid isn't deaf, but instead has absolutely no idea what I'm talking about says "He-Man, ya know?"

Then a chorus of little voices all around the boy says "Who's He-Man"

Then I had to admit I was old...I had no choice, so my answer goes "Oh He-Man, I guess he's a little behind your time...he was a cartoon when I was your age, he was kind of like a super hero, like Spiderman & Ironman".

Then it all made sense to them, yep the Noon supervisor lady was old, but at least she knew something about superheros.

Oh, by the way....I'm just old, not a total weakling, it took passing that thermos around to 4 different people before it finally got open.

Camping Part II

2009-10-04T16:43:00.000-07:00

Okay, so now I'm going to finish what I started haha, which will be pretty amazing for me.

So Thursday night led into Friday. We had a nice day of mostly around camp, a lot of lounging, which was great for me. Madison and the other kids kept busy by a lot of nature walks around the camp ground. Finding pine cones, chasing squirrels, spotting chipmunks and any other "wild life". Madison even got so worn out from the fresh mountain air that she took a nap! As of course, Michael did too!

Beth's sister & her boyfriend Mike joined us early Friday afternoon

Tricia & the boys joined us later Friday afternoon. A few hours after that, Tim joined Tricia with his mom & dad.

The kids had a blast roasting hot dogs over the fire & making smores.

Saturday
Saturday we started out the day with a humongous breakfast. Pancakes, potatoes, bacon & smoked sausage, scrambled eggs & mini bagels. We used that to get us ready for our walk to the USDF's Stream Chamber Profile. It was a pretty walk. We took in a lot of trees & foliage, Kanoke Salmon & Crawdads in the stream, along with to our surprise, a bear! We had almost all left the side of the stream and were heading a long the path to the profile chamber when Amy came running up to me. There was a bear back at the stream. So I ran back to get some pictures before it disappeared.

After the stream chamber, we went back to camp for lunch. At that point, some of us left to go on a hike above Emerald Bay while a few of us, Carol, Tricia, Beth, Mary, Jonathan, Mike & I stayed behind. Shhh...don't tell the kids, at this point we went over to the ice cream shop. OMG, their kid's scoop was like a double scoop from Baskin Robbins!

It was while we were sitting out on the grass by the ice cream parlor that I realized my mistake....I forgot to pull that nights dinner (tritip) out of the cooler. I had frozen them from when we went shopping the night before & never thought they'd actually stay frozen. But I had told myself the night before that I needed to pull them out in the morning to defrost...whoops!

So dinner Saturday night ended up being a great camp out feast....at the food court in the Harrah's hotel & casino lol! After dinner, we headed to the arcade with the kids, which was a lot of fun.

Headed back to the campsite around 10 and sat around the fire with the remaining kids & adults playing games. You know, like telephone and I'm going on a trip & in my bag I'm packing a....

Sunday morning came and it was time to pack up. We had breakfast via Beth, who baked up a bunch of breads to sustain us through camp break down time....then it was time to hit the road!

It was a great time, but I can tell you that camping with an 8 1/2 month old definitely has its challenges. I was very grateful to my family(and friends, but you all know you're the same to me) that helped keep Riley entertained & me from pulling my hair out.

Here are pictures to leave you with

And last but not least....pretty camping faces

Lily

Nathan

Camping Part I - Getting there

2009-09-29T18:07:00.001-07:00

I know it has taken long enough...it's been over a week now.

So our late in the year annual camping trip (this year back to Camp Richardson, Lake Tahoe) got off in our household's traditional fashion....late. Planning on hitting the road at 3:30, we were still packing at that point. When I say packing, I'm talking about our bags & the coolers, not our van yet! We finally hit the highway at 4:20, after stopping so Mary & Jonathan could get gas & we could run through Wendy's. Just about as soon as we hit the highway...we stopped. We got stuck in some of the worst traffic I had seen on a Thursday for a long time.

So we were majorly sweating it, as we had to register before dark. Traffic really cleared up once we hit Placerville, but were highly doubting we were going to make it by dark. Then Madison said she had to go to the bathroom. Of course she did, what trip with a 5 year old isn't complete with HAVING to stop to go to the bathroom. While Michael hustled her Cheeto powder covered self out of the van into a gas station bathroom in Pollock Pines, I called Camp Richardson. I didn't realize I had been holding my breath for the last 2 hours until I let it out when the guy on the phone told us "no problem" about registering after dark.

When we got to the camp grounds we realized why it was "no problem"....because, besides our groups 3 campsites, there was 1 other campsite being used in the entire camp grounds. Um, yeah, a little eerie. At least we didn't have to worry about an late night partiers.

It's another one ladies & gentleman!

2009-09-21T18:33:00.001-07:00

Just came across another great give away blog, this one is Just for Me and You . They have a great give away going on right now, it is to win a free child's, toddler's or infant's costume. The site that is offering the give away is Anytimecostumes.com. They have two super cute one's I'm in between for Riley (since Grammy is making Madison's). I can't decide between the Little Green Frog or the Sugar Plum Fairy!

Adorable Kiddo hats that I WANT

2009-09-14T17:03:00.000-07:00

So, my friend Bobbi hosts a blog Giveaway Addict http://giveawayaddict.blogspot.com/2009/09/review-parttimediva-designs-giveaway.html and on her blog she currently has this adorable!!! hat made by Part TimeDiva Designs http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6948550, up for grabs. The one up for this contest is the Red Apple hat, which I love...but I have to tell you, I'm dying for the lil pumpkin one also, I know it will look adorable on Riley.

So, anyhow, check it out, get your contest on and support a mom by getting your kids these adorable hats!

Erghhh

2009-09-13T09:10:00.000-07:00

So I thought I was smart...really I did. Everyone has one, so will I, I figured. A blog that is. But apparently I'm not nearly as smart as I thought I was. I can't figure one thing out. That includes but is not limited to, using Photos shop so I can make a cute banner, or customizing this thing in any way. Perhaps I need to wait until the youngest is taking a nap & the oldest is at grammys?